```

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 247 (Thursday, December 26, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 104934-104935]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-30605]

=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

34 CFR Part 30

[Docket ID ED-2023-OPE-0123]
RIN 1840-AD95

Student Debt Relief Based on Hardship for the William D. Ford 
Federal Direct Loan Program (Direct Loans), the Federal Family 
Education Loan (FFEL) Program, the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins) 
Program, and the Health Education Assistance Loan (HEAL) Program; 
Withdrawal

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.

ACTION: Withdrawal of notice of proposed rulemaking and termination of 
rulemaking proceeding.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is withdrawing a 
notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that, under the Secretary's 
authority to waive repayment of a loan provided by the Higher Education 
Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), proposed to specify the Secretary's 
authority to waive all or part of any student loan debts owed to the 
Department based on the Secretary's determination that a borrower has 
experienced or is experiencing hardship related to such a loan.

DATES: The notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal 
Register at 89 FR 87130 on October 31, 2024, is withdrawn as of 
December 20, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tamy Abernathy, U.S. Department of 
Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, 
5th floor, Washington, DC 20202. Telephone: (202) 245-4595. Email: 
[email protected].
    If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and 
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background
    On October 31, 2024, the Department published an NPRM in the 
Federal Register that, in accordance with the Secretary's authority to 
waive repayment of a loan provided by sections 432(a)(6) and 468(2) of 
the HEA, would specify the Secretary's discretion to provide debt 
relief to borrowers who are experiencing or have experienced hardship 
related to their loans. See 89 FR 87130. The proposed regulations would 
modify the Department's existing debt collection regulations to provide 
greater specificity regarding the Secretary's discretion to waive 
Federal student loan debt. The proposed rule outlines two pathways for 
discretionary relief: (i) a predictive assessment offering 
individualized, automatic waivers based on the borrower's likelihood of 
default to provide immediate relief as soon as practicable; and (ii) a 
holistic assessment of the borrower's circumstances based on an 
application or information within the Department's possession to 
address persistent hardships not sufficiently addressed by other 
Department programs.
    The Department accepted public comments on the NPRM from October 
31, 2024 through December 2, 2024. In response to the NPRM, the 
Department received 14,735 written comments, and the Department 
reviewed such comments.
    Withdrawal of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Termination of 
the Rulemaking Proceeding
    In accordance with the Secretary's authority under sections 
432(a)(6) and 468(2) of the HEA to waive repayment of a loan, the 
Department issued the NPRM to specify the Secretary's discretion to 
provide targeted debt relief to borrowers who have experienced or are 
experiencing hardship repaying their student loans based on the 
criteria specified in the NPRM.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ As the Department noted in the NPRM, these proposed 
regulations related to hardship are separate from the proposals for 
student debt relief specified in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
issued on April 17, 2024 (April 2024 NPRM) (89 FR 27564), which is 
the subject of a separate Notice of Withdrawal. These proposed 
regulations differ from the waivers in the April 2024 NPRM along 
various dimensions, including that the provisions in this NPRM 
applied distinct and different eligibility criteria and addressed 
different challenges with student loan repayment faced by borrowers. 
See, e.g., 89 FR at 87131 n. 2.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 104935]]

    The Department believed clarifying the circumstances in which the 
Secretary may use the existing and longstanding waiver authority under 
sections 432(a)(6) and 468(2) of the HEA would better inform the public 
about how the Secretary may exercise this waiver authority in a 
consistent and equitable manner. Current regulations do not describe 
how the Secretary uses this waiver authority. We also believed that 
providing such specificity would allow the Department to highlight 
circumstances where we are particularly concerned about borrowers' 
inability to successfully repay their debts in full and where the 
Department anticipated that the costs of collection would exceed the 
expected benefits.
    However, upon further consideration of the operational challenges 
in implementing the proposals in the NPRM, the Secretary withdraws the 
NPRM and terminates the rulemaking proceeding.
    In making this decision, we reconsidered the Department's ability 
to implement the proposed rules if they were finalized in a form 
identical or largely similar to what was included in the NPRM. With the 
time remaining in this Administration, the Department is focused on 
several priorities including court-ordered settlements and helping 
borrowers manage the final elements of the return to repayment 
following the Fall 2024 end of the 12-month on-ramp period designed to 
assist borrowers who were unable to make their payments or who needed 
more time to access information to determine the right repayment plan 
for their circumstances. With the end of the on-ramp period, some 
borrowers may start becoming delinquent and start down the path to 
default. Given that many newer borrowers are at risk of default, and 
the Department expects that many of these newer borrowers would not 
have been otherwise eligible for immediate relief under the proposed 
rules in the NPRM, along with the uncertainty around the implementation 
of the NPRM proposals, the Department at this time intends to commit 
its limited operational resources to helping at-risk borrowers return 
to repayment successfully. For all of these independently sufficient 
reasons, the Department is withdrawing this NPRM.
    Importantly, the Department is not withdrawing this NPRM and 
terminating this rulemaking proceeding based upon a changed view of the 
Secretary's authority under section 432(a) and 468(2) of the HEA, or 
based upon any preliminary determination about the limitations of such 
authority. See Missouri v. Biden, No. 24-cv-1316, ECF No. 57 (granting 
preliminary injunction in challenge focused on separate April 2024 NPRM 
relying on waiver authority). Rather, the Department continues to 
believe that the NPRM is authorized by the Secretary's longstanding and 
existing authority under the HEA, as explained in the NPRM. See, e.g., 
89 FR 87133-34.
    We do not intend for a final rule to be issued on this NPRM. Were 
the Department to issue a regulation in this area in the future, it 
would be bound by the requirements of section 492(a) and (b) of the 
HEA, 20 U.S.C. 1098a(a) and (b).
    Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities 
can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will 
provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich 
Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3, braille, 
large print, audiotape, compact disc, or other accessible format.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this 
document, as well as all other Department documents published in the 
Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To use 
PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the 
site.
    You may also access Department documents published in the Federal 
Register by using the article search feature at 
www.Federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

Miguel Cardona,
Secretary of Education.
[FR Doc. 2024-30605 Filed 12-20-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
```